1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to data storage systems. More specifically, the invention is related to data storage systems including spare storage devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The demand for data storage protection and capacity in computer networking environments increases substantially each year. Internet use and data-intensive applications, such as multimedia and online transaction processes, have contributed to the increased demand for data storage capacity. Undoubtedly, the reliability of data storage systems is a significant issue as well.
To prevent important data from being damaged when a data storage system fails, most data storage systems has built-in preventing mechanism.
A conservative preventing mechanism discards a primary storage device once a few abnormalities occur in the primary storage device and replace the primary storage device with a spare storage device. In this way, the possibility of data being damaged is decreased. However, users must pay more maintenance fee. On the other hand, an aggressive preventing mechanism discards a primary storage device until more abnormalities occur in the primary storage device. By contrast, an aggressive preventing mechanism saves maintenance fee at the expense of reliability of data storage systems. Accordingly, adopting which preventing mechanism has been a bothersome problem for users.